The conformation of a ceramic piece follows the steps of preparing the raw material, molding, lamination, drying, and firing. Drying is a thermodynamic process of heat and mass transfer, with dimensional variations of the product that requires a large amount of energy. Ceramic materials when exposed to non-uniform drying may suffer cracks and deformations, reducing their post-drying quality. Thus, this work aimed to study the drying of industrial ceramic blocks in an oven with forced air circulation. Experiments were carried out to characterize the clay and drying of the ceramic block at temperatures ranging from 50 °C to 100 °C. Results of the chemical, mineralogical, granulometric, differential thermal, and thermogravimetric analysis of the clay, and heating kinetics, mass loss, and dimensional variation of the industrial ceramic block are presented and analyzed in detail. It was found that the clay is basically composed of silica and alumina (≈ 80.96%), with an average particle diameter of 13.36 μm. The study proved that drying at high temperature and low relative humidity of the air generates high rates of mass loss, heating, and volumetric shrinkage in the ceramic product, and high thermo-hydraulic stresses, which cause the appearance and propagation of cracks, gaps, and cleavages, compromising the final quality of the product.

The drying is a thermodynamic process of simultaneous heat transfer and moisture removal of a porous material. Clay products when exposed to drying without control can suffer cracks and deformations, reducing its quality post-drying. Thus, this work aims to study the holed solid drying with arbitrary shape using the global capacitance method. Application has been made for the drying of clay products. The analytical solution of the governing equations was made using the method of separation of variables.Kinetic results for mass loss and heating of the material are presented and analyzed. It was observed that the moisture loss process occurs at a lower speed than the heating of the ceramic material because its thermal diffusivity is greater than the mass diffusivity and that the area/volume relationshipstrongly affects the phenomena of heat and mass transport.

This chapter briefly focuses on the drying of wet bioproducts with particular reference to fruits, vegetables and grains. Different related topics in terms of drying foundations, dryer selection, product quality, energy savings, energy sources, energy efficiency, energy recovery, operating safety, environmental impact, and advanced drying techniques are presented and discussed. The study confirm drying as a highly energy-consuming process, one of the major source of pollutant emissions, and one dehydration technique that strongly affect product quality under different aspects such as color, flavor, appearance, aroma, losses of nutrients and vitamins, and many others physical, chemical, structural, and nutritional quality parameters.

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The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical study of industrial hollow bricks drying in across flow tunnel dryer. The theoretical model is based on the 1st and 2nd laws of Thermodynamic applied to the system. To validate the methodology, numerical and experimental data of the moisture content of the brick during the drying in an industrial scale are compared and a good agreement was obtained. Results of moisture content and temperature of the product and air, and energy and exergy efficiencies are presented and analysed.

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Este trabalho apresenta um estudo teórico da transferência de calor e massa durante a secagem de tijolos cerâmicos industriais em estufa. Foram propostos modelos matemáticos para descrever as cinéticas de secagem e aquecimento do tijolo em função do tempo de processo, considerando a existência das áreas superficiais interna e a externa e variações dimensionais do tijolo. Foram propostos modelos empíricos para predizer o comportamento do teor de umidade, temperatura superficial, volume e áreas superficiais interna e externa do produto. O estudo foi conduzido em diferentes condições operacionais do ar de secagem (50 a 100°C). Toda a modelagem foi ajustada a dados experimentais do teor de umidade médio, temperatura na superfície e dimensões médias do tijolo durante a secagem, em cada condição experimental, obtendo-se um bom ajuste e elevado coeficiente de determinação, evidenciando sua confiabilidade para ser usada na predição do problema físico. Da comparação, estimou-se o volume, as áreas superficiais interna e externa e os parâmetros de transferência de calor e de massa do tijolo.

The purpose of this paper is to present an experimental study of clay brick drying. For the drying experiments, industrial holed bricks were dried in an oven under controlled conditions of velocity, temperature (constant and variable) and relative humidity of air. The continuous drying experiments ended when the mass reached constant weight. Experimental tests were performed under atmospheric pressure. Results of the drying and heating kinetics and volume variations during the process are shown and analyzed. It was verified that the drying process happens in the falling drying rate period, and air temperature has large influence in the drying rate during process. It was verified that the largest temperature, moisture content and stress gradients are located in the vertexes of the brick.